The present invention relates generally to a floppy disk cartridge. More particularly, the present invention relates to a floppy disk cartridge having a visual disk-capacity indicator for indicating an amount of disk space available for recording on an attached floppy disk recording medium.
With the widespread use of computers in the "information Age" currently taking place, floppy disks have become common devices for storing data to and from computers. Floppy disks are generally small in size, lightweight, reasonably inexpensive, and can store well over 1 Mbyte of information on each disk. Floppy disks are also easily transferred from one computer to another, and therefore are a convenient means to transfer data between various computers without requiring a network system or a modem device.
One of the most common types of floppy disks is the so-called 3.5-inch floppy disk. A perspective view of a typical 3.5-inch floppy disk 1 is shown in FIG. 1. A disk-shaped recording medium 2 is housed in a rigid cartridge 3 that provides reasonable protection from inadvertent physical damage. The cartridge 3 is formed of an upper half 31 and a lower half 32 and includes a sliding cover plate 6 that selectively covers an aperture 5 in the upper half 31 of the cartridge 3 for accessing an upper side of the recording medium 2 housed therein. The cover plate 6 provides limited access to the recording medium 2 housed in the cartridge 3. A spring mechanism 7 biases the cover plate 6 to a normally closed position covering the aperture 5. When the floppy disk cartridge is inserted into a disk drive unit, the cover plate 6 is moved to expose the aperture 5 and a portion of the recording medium 2.
In order to determine how much disk space is available for recording in a typical floppy disk, such as that shown in FIG. 1, a user must insert the floppy disk into the disk drive of a computer and then input commands instructing the computer to electronically access the recording medium in the floppy disk to retrieve information on the amount of disk space available for recording data. The computer responds by displaying the information on a display monitor.